HTC Keynote

Ford Focus

BlackBerry Porsche

Windows DJ

At Microsoft Windows Phone after party, the DJ was using a touchscreen running Windows software.

Little Droid

This little guy was very popular, making appearances all over the show floor.

Android Booth

The Android booth was popular, too. Here's a view from above.

Android Booth

The green robots were visible from many parts of the building.

Google Does Art

An art installation created by Google just for the show to illustrate the Android design principles.

Android Art

A closer look at some of the wild, fuzzy textures.

Android Art

People were very interested in interacting with the installation.

Tegra 3

NVidia showed off the powerful graphics of the Tegra-3.

Tegra 3 Demo

The Tegra-3 will allow advanced games to run on cell phones.

Duracell Power Mat

Recharging your devices is a big growth area, and Duracell is getting in the game.

Gadgets Being Charged

Samsung Galaxy

A hands-on demo of the new Samsung products.

Windows Phone

Windows Phone had a big presence at MWC '12.

LG's Booth

Huawei

Samsung's Booth

Motorola's Booth

Confetti

This keynote definitely has pizzazz.

Sony Booth

The Sony booth was crowded with people playing with the Vita and the Sony Xperia phone.

Batgirl

There was an abundance of action hero costumes this year

Cool Costumes

And more neat outfits.

The Mobile World Congress Venue

A View from the Hill Tops at MWC

It's a Lovely Venue

People loved to sit around this fountain

Pegasus

The Pegasus is actually Huawei's symbol and not part of Fira de Barcelona

Closer to Pegasus

The National Palace

BARCELONA — Like all large tech events, Mobile World Congress is very similar to the last mega mobile event in Spain, but as with those previous events, each year brings a couple of surprises, as well.

Last year, Nokia and Microsoft were nearly absent from the show — this year they came back with a vengeance. Meanwhile, companies you've likely never heard of had the weirdest and the most interesting displays — exotic dancers, girls in superhero costumes, scantily dressed anime characters — we've seen it all (maybe too much).

There were also dozens of smaller booths hosting tiny mobile app companies, as well as companies that produce various accessories or technologies related to mobile. Weaving their way through all of them was an immense river of people in suits nosing about the gadgets, screens and handsets, and peppering company reps with questions.

Over the next few days, we'll be publishing several galleries with interesting, unusual and wacky photos from the show. The first one, above, should give you a glimpse of the atmosphere in Barcelona this year.

Are you attending the MWC? Have you attended it in the past? What advice do you have for this year's attendees? If you're not at the MWC, what would you like to see photos of? Tell us in the comments.

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